Mike Monroe: Hornets’ defense has the league buzzing

Tim Duncan swears the Hornets have been playing “the best basketball in this league the last 15 or 20 games.”

The Spurs and Hornets have the same 16-4 record over their last 20, but Duncan is right. The Hornets have regained the chemistry that led them to an 11-1 start and had the basketball-loving world wondering how they were doing it.

Now we know: The Hornets have been executing Gregg Popovich’s defensive system better than his league-leading Spurs.

“Physical, physical, well-executed defense,” Popovich said after former pupil Monty Williams’ team held the Spurs to 48 points through three quarters in Saturday’s 96-74 win that prompted Duncan’s praise.

Williams learned the system in three seasons in silver and black, from 1995 to 1998. He discovered some of the scheme’s secrets as a coaching intern in 2004-05, during which he observed the daily emphasis on defense in an NBA title run.

Getting a team to buy into defense as its core identity isn’t easy. The TV networks don’t feature perfect defensive rotations on the highlight shows.

Williams believes his point guard, Chris Paul, has become an elite defender, but when Paul is revealed as a Western Conference All-Star starter on Thursday it will be because fans love to watch him shoot and pass.

The Hornets couldn’t sustain their early momentum, and that was more predictable than the 11-1 start. Teams with rookie coaches and revamped rosters need time to gain traction. Plus, there were off-the-court issues wearing at the on-court chemistry required by Williams’ defensive system.

Behind the scenes, the transfer of Hornets majority ownership from cash-strapped George Shinn to local billionaire Gary Chouest fell apart. Getting Shinn out of the owner’s suite was mandatory if the team wanted any shot at retaining Paul when he hits the free agent market in 2012.

Players know what’s going on behind the scenes. Uncertainty erodes unity and against this backdrop, it was hardly a surprise when the Hornets lost six of eight in late November and early December.

On Dec. 6, the NBA announced it was buying the franchise and would try to find an owner willing to keep the team in New Orleans. Restoring stability helped Williams and players focus on basketball. By Christmas, the Hornets steadied themselves and got back to winning with the defense Duncan and Popovich admired Saturday.

But there was a deadline approaching, an attendance benchmark to be met by the end of January or the team would be allowed to break its lease with the state of Louisiana and move elsewhere.

So the team’s new-old management joined with local politicians, including Gov. Bobby Jindal, to urge businesses to purchase blocks of season tickets, often at discount prices.

Thus, the team was able to pretend it had a sellout for its Monday night game against the Thunder, but large sections of the lower bowl at New Orleans Arena were empty when David West’s game-winning jumper was replayed in TV recaps of the game.

The franchise isn’t the first to use tickets sold, rather than bodies in seats, as the benchmark for box office success, and this time to tangible effect. The criteria that prevented ownership — in this case potential ownership — from breaking the lease with the state-owned facility, has been met, even if the businesses that bought the tickets couldn’t find takers who wanted to see one of the most dramatic finishes of the season Monday.

What matters is this: The Hornets will play in New Orleans again next season if there is one.

Most likely, they will play some of the best basketball in the league.